Hand guard



Dec. l, 1942. A. w. BERGHs 2,303,675

i l HAND GUARD Filed Nov. 4, 1940 Patented Dec. l, 1942 UNITED STA'EES imriTibl'i orties 4 Claims.

My invention relates to means for preventing thumb and finger sucking, skin scratching and analogous aberrations by infants, children and even adults who for one reason or another must be kept under digital or manual restraint.

More particularly the invention comprises a guard which completely encloses the hand of the patient, and preferably the guards are provided in pairs, one for each hand.

Objects of the invention are to provide a hand guard of the type indicated which will .be comfortable to wear, light in weight, inexpensive to manufacture, capable of being readily and easily sterilized, and which will fit, for each predetermined or fixed size, a wide range of hand sizes.

A particularly important object of the invention resides in the inclusion in the hand guard of means for latching the same on the hand of the patient in such a way that the guard cannot be removed by the patient. This is of particular importance in the case of young children, and overcomes an especially troublesome problem since many of the otherwise practical hand and linger guards of the prior art are too easily removed by the wearer.

The present guard is of the type which encloses the whole hand and is therefore necessarily of a size which prevents insertion of the same into the mouth. The guard is therefore superior to those which merely enclose a thumb or a finger and f which can be inserted into the mouth.

In a preferred form of embodiment the guard is made of metal which can be readily boiled and otherwise sterilized, thus possessing a very considerable advantage when used in the treatment of children, for example, suffering from pinworm, impetigo and other infections where there is a tendency to scratch the affected part and spread the infection. In such cases the affected area can be bandaged and the bandage cannot be removed by the patient wearing the guard, and even should ,the bandage become dislodged it is diicult or impossible for the guarded hand to scratch the area and spread the infection. Even when the guard comes into direct Contact with the infection the guard can be removed and quickly sterilized before it is replaced on the hand.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a perspective View of an infant wearing on each hand a guard constructed according to the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of a guard showing the wrist opening, the hinge and latching means, il-

lustrating in dotted lines the open position of the two shells which compose the guard;

Fig. 3 is a central cross section taken transversely through the hinge means and the diametrically opposite latching means;

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the latching and Fig. 5 is a further detail, taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

But the foregoing illustrations are to be understood as exemplifying the invention in a preferred form of embodiment which has been tested and found entirely satisfactory. The invention is not to be considered limited to the details of the illustrated embodiment but on the contrary may be incorporated in other and diiferent forms, all within the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

The guard consists essentially of a pair of hollow shells, designated l and 2 in the figures. These shells are generally similar in shape and size and are preferably made hemispherical and hollow. Spun aluminum, or other thin, light and stiff or rigid metal is preferred because a guard made of such material can be boiled or otherwise sterilized. For somewhat cheaper constructions, if the advantages of sterilization can be dispensed with, the guard might be made of such material as Celluloid, one of the numerous plastics or synthetic resins now on the market, or even papier mch.

For Ventilation and to keep the weight of the guard down to a minimum, the shells may be provided with comparatively large openings 3. These openings may be made just small enough to prevent a linger ofthe wearer from being extended through them, and they may be formed in a comparatively large number and spaced quite close together.

Each shell is recessed at one end to provide a semicircular opening, which cooperates with the recess of the companion shell to provide a generally circular opening 4 which is adapted to embrace the wrist of the wearer when his hand is enclosed within the hollow sphere of the guard and the two shells are latched together.

The shells are connected at one side edge by a hinge means 5, so that they can be swung apart as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 to receive the hand of the wearer, and can be thereafter closed together as shown in full lines in Figs. 2 and 3. To latch the shells in closed position on the hand I provide latching means designated generally 5 formed on the shells diametrically opposite the hinge means 5 and which may conmeans;

sist of a spring tongue 'I riveted to the shell 2 and extending beyond the edge thereof, so as to overlap the companion shell. The overlapping part of the tongue 'I carries an inwardly projecting lug 8 which is adapted to snap into a socket 9 in the companion shell I, which socket may take the form of a small hole in the shell margin.

As best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the tongue 1 conforms quite accurately to the spherical curvature of the guard so that it snugly engages the outer surface of the guard. In this way it is practically impossible for the wearer to open the latch by inserting under it anything which might be used to lift the lug 8 out of the socket 9.

To make it convenient for a person attending the infant or patient to open the latch, the tongue I may be slightly undercut along its side edges, as indicated at I0, I0 in Fig. 4. It will be appreciated that the nails of the thumb and foreiinger of such a person can be inserted in the opposite undercuts to lift the tongue sufficiently to withdraw the lug from its socket, whereupon the shells can be spread apart and the guard removed from the hand of the wearer.

As will be evident, a guard of predetermined 'fixed size will t a comparatively wide range of hand sizes, since all that is necessary is that the wrist opening 4 be large enough to fit the wrist without unduly binding or constricting the same and be small enough to prevent passage of the hand therethrough. However, inorder to adapt a guard to a still greater range of hand sizes I prefer to provide means like an eye II on each shell near the margin of the wrist opening 4 thereof and preferably at about the center of the recess which constitutes half of the wrist opening. A ribbon or the like I2 may be passed through these two eyes to provide two runs of ribbon embracing the wrist of the wearer with `the two ends of the ribbon tied together. In this way a guard may be comfortably fitted over an infants hand which is small enough to pass through the opening 4. The guard can thus be bought for a very small infant in a size which will be large enough to be worn throughout a Avery considerable period of the infants growth.

Y It will be appreciated that an important advantage of the guard is that it is unprovided with any cuff or equivalent means which must be pinned or tied to the sleeve of a garment. Constructed in this way, the guard can be worn by an infant regardless of the clothing which he wears.

When made of the preferred thin, light metal,

the shells are best formed with their meeting 'edges beaded, as indicated at I3, and with the margins of the openings 4 similarly beaded as shown at I4. By this construction pinching of the skin between the edges I3 is prevented, and contact of the beads I4 with the wrist of the wearer is made quite comfortable. The beading `also materially strengthens the structure and permits it to be made of unusually thin gauge material.

` The forward edge of the lug 8 of the latch is best made beveled or cam-faced, as shown in Fig. 5. Thus made, the lug does notl have to be lifted to latch the two shells together, but will ride over the bead I3 of the shell I which contains the socket 9 when the two shells are swung 4together from the dotted to the full line position of Fig.`2 and will automatically snap into the socket; Lifting of the latch is required only to -separate the shells, and this is made easy by the undercuts I0, I0. An infant wearing but one of the guards and having his other hand free will not be likely to open the latch. Older children will nd it impossible to open the latch when guards are worn on both hands. Obviously, it is quite impossible for the guards, whether one or two be worn, to become accidentally opened.

While the specific character of the latching means which I have disclosed in the illustrated embodiment of the invention may be altered inscfar as the broad principles of the invention are concerned, the illustrated type of latching means is preferred by me because of the special advantages hereinabove referred to.

Other departures from the specific construction herein selected to illustrate the invention may be adopted within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims.

I claim: f

1. A hand guard adapted to be worn by infants and the like for such purposes as the prevention of thumb or finger sucking comprising a pair of hollow generally hemispherical shells of light, thin and relatively stiff material, hinge means connecting the shells together at one side of each, latch means at the meeting edges of the shells diametrically opposite the hinge means, and each shell having an arcuate edge recess substantially midway betwen the hinge and latch means cooperating, when the shells are latched together, to provide a substantially circular wrist opening for the guard largey enough to t the wrist without unduly binding the same and small enough t0 prevent passage of the hand therethrough, the material of said shells being of uniform thinness whereby the closed guard pro- Vides a substantially spherical interior in which the hand may be freely opened and closed, and the guard being sufhciently light to prevent appreciable hampering of the freedom of movement of the wearers arm. Y

2. A hand guard adapted to be worn by infants and the like for such purposes as the prevention of thumb or finger sucking comprising a pair of hollow generally hemispherical shells of light, thin and relatively stiff material, hinge means connecting the shells together at one side of each, a spring tongue xed to one of the shells and extending from the edge thereof opposite the hinge means and having an inwardly projecting lug adapted to snap over the edge of the cooperating shell and automatically enter an opening in said cooperating shell to latch the shells together in closed position, and each shell having an arcuate edge recess substantially midway between the hinge and latching means cooperating to provide a substantially circular wrist opening for the guard when the shells are latched together.

3. A hand guard adapted to be worn by infants and the like for such purposes as the prevention of thumb or finger sucking comprising a pair of hollow generally hemispherical shells of, light, thin and relatively stiff material, hinge means connecting the shells together at one side of each, a spring tongue fixed to one of the shells and extending from the edge thereof opposite the hinge means and having an inwardly projecting lug adapted to snap over the edge of the cooperating shell and automatically enter an opening in said cooperating shell to latch the shells together in closed position, each shell having an arcuate edge recess substantially midway between the hinge and latching means cooperating to provide a substantially circular wrist opening for the guard when the shells are latched together,

and the tongue being curved in substantial conformity with the spherical curvature of the shells so as snugly to engage the shells when the shells are latched together whereby undesired unlatching is prevented.

4. A hand guard adapted to be Worn by infants and the like for such purposes as the prevention of thumb or finger sucking comprising a pair of hollow shells of light, thin and relatively stiff material, hinge means connecting the shells together at one side of each, latch means at the meeting edges of the shells opposite the hinge means, each shell having an arcuate edge recess substantially midway between the hinge and latch means cooperating to provide a substantially circular wrist opening of predetermined fixed size when the shells are latched together, and a single eye formed on each shell at the margin of the Wrist opening and both eyes being positioned substantially diametrically opposite each other whereby two runs of a ribbon or the like may be disposed through said eyes and beyond the edge of the shells to directly engage and embrace the'wrist of a child whose hand is small enough to pass through the wrist opening.

ADELE W. BERGHS. 

